Circular loom for weaving



Y 1937. F. c. HALE 2,080,772

CIRCULAR LOOM FOR WEAVING Filed March 28, 1936 ATTORNEYS Patented May 18, 1937 UNETED STATES CIRCULAR. LOOM FOR WEAVING Frank Corbyn Hale, Spondon, near Derby, England, assignor to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware Application March 28, 1936, Serial No. 71,385 In Great Britain April 16, 1935 3 Claims.

This invention relates to circular looms, and especially looms of the type in which the shuttles are held within the warp sheds by means of rotatable vane wheels disposed so as to penetrate the sheet of warps on one side of a shuttle so as toengage and position the shuttle and provided with slots for the free passage of the warps in that sheet.

The object of the invention is to provide effective control over the quality of the fabric woven in such looms, particularly as regards the position of the warps.

According to the invention, the fabric as it is woven is drawn over the surface of a. supporting ring covered with a pile fabric having its pile inclined so as to point circumferentially round the ring. The free ends of the pile threads of the fabric engage the fabrics being woven and resistany circumferential movement of the fabric being woven in the direction opposite to that in which the pile is pointing. Any circumferential movement that the fabric being woven tends to make is in the direction in which the pile is pointing, and it is found that the fabric being woven assumes a position about the supporting ring in which it is firmly held, and in which the warp threads reaching the fell of the fabric are held in substantially evenly spaced positions. Moreover the warp threads can readily be held in an inclined position over the length extending past the shuttles to the fell of the fabric, so permitting their ready passage through the vanes of the wheels by which the shuttles are held within the warp shed. For this purpose, the pile points in the direction in which the weft is inserted in the warps, i. e. in the direction of the movement of the shuttles relative to the warps.

The fell of the fabric lies close to the edge of the supporting ring near the bases of the shuttles, and with the warps held substantially evenly spaced by means of the pile fabric covering of the ring, the fabric newly woven by the insertion of weft in the fell is high in quality.

The pile fabric covering of the supporting ring permits the fabric being woven to be drawn along the ring in the' direction of the take-up device with the Weft held parallel to the fell, 1. e. normal to the warp threads.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which- Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a. circular loom partly in section;

Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5 are somewhat diagrammatic in its inclined disposition by thinner metal ring l3, the rollers I!) actually 7 bearing against the ring l3 with the fabric 1 interposed between them.

The shuttles 5 proceed from right to left as viewed in Fig. 1. The ring 8 is covered with pile fabric I having its pile l5 pointing in the direction in which the weft is inserted in the warps, i. e., in the direction of motion of the shuttles. The pile is stiff in character, being formed, for example, of high denier viscose, cellulose acetate, or other artificial filaments, or mohair or-like stiff fibres, the pile being set means of a backing it of a suitable medium such as rubber.

The pile fabric holds the fabric 1 firmly about the ring 8 in such a position that the warp threads I between the lease rods 4 and the fell 6 are inclined as shown at IT in Fig. 1. As shown in Fig. 6, the shuttles are held within the warp sheds comprising inner and outer warp sheets l8, l9 by means of vane wheels 20 which engage flanged rollers. 2i rotatable about a horizontal axis in the shuttle body. The vane wheels are so slotted as to have a right-handed screwing action. At the point where they pass through the warp sheet I 9, the vanes 22 have the inclination shown in Fig. 3. The inclination of the length of the warp threads indicated at I! is substantially equal to that of the vanes, and the warp threads of the outer sheet Hi there fore fall easily into the slots 23 between the vanes, and the vane wheels are thus enabled to propel the shuttles progressively round the periphery of the loom while allowing the passage of the warp sheet over the outer face of each shuttle.

By reason of the inclination of the Warp threads there is little chance of their being damaged by the vane wheels 20, and by reason of the firm grip afforded on the woven fabric by the pile fabric M, the warps are held substantially evenly spaced at the fell 6.

The pile l5 may point horizontally as indicated in Fig. 4, or may point somewhat downwardly as indicated in Fig. 5, especially if the nature of the fabric being woven necessitates such strong pile that it is desirable to ensure that the pile does not offer undesired resistance to the motion of the woven fabric downwards over the surface of the supporting ring. Thus, if the fabric being woven is very strong in character, suitable wire pile such as card clothing may be employed on the ring 8 with the wires pointing as shown in Fig. 5.

Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

1. A circular loom of the type in which the shuttles are held within the warp sheds by means of rotatable vane wheels disposed so as to penetrate the sheet of warps on one side of a shuttle so as to engage and to position the shuttle, said loom comprising a ring adapted to receive and support the newly woven fabric, and a pile fabric covering for said ring having its pile inclined so as to point circumferentially round the ring.

2. A circular loom according to claim 1, wherein the pile of the pile fabric covering points circumferentially in the same direction as that in which the weft is inserted in the warps.

3. A circular loom according to claim 1, wherein the pile of the pile fabric covering is held in its inclined disposition by a backing, applied to the pile fabric.

' FRANK COR-BYN HALE. 

